


Enter to Win!

by TaleasOldasTimeandSpace



Series: Adventures of Darcy and Balrog [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Balrog the Bilgesnipe, Darcyland, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Meet the Avengers, Mostly Crack, but so is everything i write, this is highly improbable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-16 23:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9293480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaleasOldasTimeandSpace/pseuds/TaleasOldasTimeandSpace
Summary: It would be amazing to win the opportunity to meet the Avengers, but that's something that happens to cool people.  Not internet goblins.Right?





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is for [the-jane-of-all-trades](http://the-jane-of-all-trades.tumblr.com/) on tumblr, who asked (a really long time ago): I was wondering if you could write a one-shot about 2 OCs who are online friends but never met in person meeting through the Avengers because they won a radio show that lets them hangout with the Avengers for a week/day.
> 
> Thanks for the prompt!

**obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Stormy!  Are you online?

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Stormy?

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Stormy!

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Stormy

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Stormy

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Stormy

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   STORMY

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   ANSWER ME, YOU MEGLOMANIACLE CHILD!

 **stormageddon_dla** :  WHAT?!

 **stormageddon_dla** :  And I thought we established I’m older than you

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   If you’re going to name your blog after a baby with delusions of grandeur, then I can call you whatever I want.

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   *self-righteous sniff*

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Infant.

 **stormageddon_dla** :  But you gotta admit it’s a cool name

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Maaaaaaybe.  But that’s not important.

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Have you seen the Avengers’ blog?

 **stormageddon_dla** :  I just barely got online

 **stormageddon_dla** :  All I’ve seen is you yelling at me

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Check it out!  DO IT NOW!

 **stormageddon_dla** :  Alright alright! Sheesh! Keep your bonnet on

 **stormageddon_dla** :  SWEET BABY CELESTIA!

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   I KNOW!

 **stormageddon_dla** :  WE COULD MEET THE AVENGERS!

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   I KNOW!

 **stormageddon_dla** :  THIS IS INCREDIBLE!

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   I KNOOOOOOOW!

 **stormageddon_dla** :  Are you going to enter?

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   You kidding?  Of course I am!

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Already did, in fact.  You?

 **stormageddon_dla** :  Have you met me?

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   That’s a rhetorical question, right?

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Because the answer is no, actually.  I haven’t.

 **stormageddon_dla** :  *rolls eyes* you know what I mean

 **stormageddon_dla** :  Just entered, by the way

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   You realize there’s a (incredibly small) chance that we could both win?

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Wouldn’t it be weird if we ended up meeting in person because of meeting the Avengers?

 **stormageddon_dla** :  Good weird though

 **stormageddon_dla** :  Right?

 **obstinate_headstrong_girl:**   Definitely a good weird.

* * *

 

Lizzie bounced on her heels, too excited to stand still.  Even now, standing in the lobby of the Avengers Tower after a five-hour flight, she could barely believe it was real.  When she’d entered the contest, she hadn’t really expected to win.  Sure, she’d _hoped_ to win, but she secretly believed that it was something that would happen to other, much cooler, people.  But here she was, in New York City, in the _Avengers Tower,_ one of ten people from around the world to win the contest.  The only thing that could conceivably be better than this would be the TARDIS materializing in front of her and the Doctor poking his head out to invite her to experience all of time and space.

She’d been sorely tempted to wear one of her many Avengers-related t-shirts, but she didn’t want to come off as a completely crazed fangirl.  Even if she technically was.  Instead, she wore a plain shirt and jeans with the Fourth Doctor scarf she’d spent a month crocheting.  An obnoxiously long scarf totally counted as an innocuous accessory, right?  Besides, it was the easiest way for Stormy to identify her.

The only thing more inconceivable than winning the contest—besides becoming the Doctor’s next companion—was having Stormy win it, as well.  But they’d messaged each other almost simultaneously with identical incoherent screaming, and immediately made plans to introduce themselves in person. 

The last few contest winners arrived, and her eyes landed on a tall man with messy red hair wearing a shirt that read The Angels Have the Phone Box under a nice jacket.  Bingo.

He caught her watching him and glanced between her scarf and her face before grinning widely.  Walking up to her, he stuck out a hand.  ‘Lizzie?’

‘Stormy?’

‘Uh, it’s Jonas, actually, but yeah.  I’m Stormy.’  She’d known he was from Scotland, but it was another thing entirely to hear it in person.

‘Jonas.’  She rolled the name around in her mouth.  ‘Wow, that’s weird.  I’m not sure I can think of you as anything besides Stormy.’

He laughed.  ‘I know what you mean.  You can call me Stormy if you want.  I don’t mind.  What about you?  Is Lizzie an alias?’

‘Nope.  Well, yes.  Well, Elizabeth is the name my parents gave me, but I go by Lizzie.  So yes.  Call me Lizzie.’  She realized she was talking too fast and sucked in a breath.  ‘Wow.  Okay.  You’re really tall, and you have more freckles than I do.  And you’re Scottish.  Why didn’t you ever tell me you’re basically the Bog King?’

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders.  ‘Because I’ve seen all the Strange Magic stuff you post, and I’m not crazy enough to give you more fodder for your obsessions.’

She sniffed.  ‘Humph.  Says the guy who entered a contest to meet the Avengers.  Remind me what _you_ mostly blog about?’  She rubbed her chin thoughtfully before snapping her fingers.  ‘Oh, right.  Avengers and Doctor Who.’

He grinned, putting his hands on her shoulders.  ‘We’re going to meet the Avengers!’

‘I know!’  She grabbed his elbows, both of them laughing like maniacs as they jumped up and down.  From the corner of her eye, she could see the rest of the contest winners watching them with varying expressions of disapproval.  Let ’em judge.  Dignity was for chumps.

They managed to calm down by the time their guide arrived to escort the group upstairs.  But they still spent the entire elevator ride shooting crazed grins at each other.  The doors slid open, and Lizzie clamped her hands around Stormy’s arm, trying unsuccessfully to stop making a noise like a teakettle.

Stormy attempted to pry her fingers loose.  ‘Uh, Lizzie?  I’m excited too, but I also can’t feel my fingers anymore.  Do you mind?’

‘Sorry!’  She dropped his arm in favour of clutching her scarf.  As long as she didn’t pull on it too hard, she would manage to go the whole day without strangling herself.  Theoretically, anyway.

They trailed the guide and the rest of the winners into the common room, where the Avengers were assembled, varying expressions on their faces, from the frozen smile of Tony Stark and the _slightly_ more sincere Captain America™ grin of Steve Rogers to the matching stares of Murderous Intent from the Black Widow, the Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye—though in Barton’s case, there was the hint of a suspicious twitch at the corner of his mouth.  Colonel Rhodes seemed more interested in keeping Tony civilized than in hobnobbing with the public, while Wanda Maximoff and the Vision sat together on a couch, both wearing expressions of polite-yet-wary interest, and Dr. Banner huddled in a corner, the panic of an introvert forced to take part in _social interaction_ —the horror!—written all over his face.  Only Sam Wilson and Thor seemed genuinely happy to see them.

‘They look thrilled to be here, don’t they?’ Stormy asked dryly.

Lizzie elbowed him in the liver.  ‘Shut it, infant.’  She snickered.  ‘Wow, I’m not sure I can call you that to your face.  It’s too weird.’

‘Deliverance is mine.  Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!’

‘Don’t get comfortable.  I’ll come up with something else.’

Sam stepped forward.  ‘Hey, everybody!  Welcome!  We’re going to have a meet-n-greet and then do a tour of the Tower.’  He grinned and jerked a thumb at the Winter Soldier.  ‘Don’t worry about Barnes over there.  He actually has no personality.’

Barnes crossed his arms.  ‘Laugh it up, Wilson.  I know where you live.’

The group broke into nervous laughter, and a girl towards the back darted a glance at the elevator, as if debating the wisdom of making a break for it.

Thor laughed and clapped a hand on Sam’s shoulder.  ‘Do not be afraid, champions!’ he boomed.  ‘Samuel and James are shield brothers and the best of friends!’

Sam snorted.  ‘Says you, weatherman.’

Lizzie grinned.  ‘I like him.’

Stormy raised an eyebrow.  ‘Which one?’

‘All of them.’

The unexpected snark of Barnes and Sam broke the ice, enabling the assembled Avengers and contest winners to relax and get to know each other.  Most of them, anyway.  Dr. Banner still looked dubious, and that one girl—Meena, a pathologist from India—never strayed too far from the elevator.  Besides Lizzie, Stormy, and Meena, the other contest winners included Hikaru, a pilot from Japan, Ziva, an Israeli security expert, Gabby, who owned an auto shop in Germany, Illya a Russian chess player, Amaya, a veterinarian from Wakanda, Manuel, the manager of a hotel in Barcelona, and Ezekiel, an acquisition specialist from Australia.  It was an interesting group, and Lizzie strongly suspected—from the twenty minutes she’d spent in their presence—that Gabby and Illya were rapidly developing a thing for each other.  Especially considering the way they kept darting glances at each other from where Gabby was talking racecars with Tony and Illya was discussing chess and tea with Dr. Banner.

It was Amaya’s first time outside of Wakanda, and she was eagerly quizzing Thor on Asgardian fauna.  Manuel was debating literature with Wanda and the Vision, Hikaru was swapping Weird Flying stories with Sam and Rhody, Ziva and Natasha seemed to be having an intense conversation communicated strictly through eyebrows, and Meena was engaged in a disturbingly technical discussion about knives with Barnes.  Lizzie bounced back and forth between Steve and Stormy, who were trading art tips, and Barton and Ezekiel, who seemed to be trying to top each other with tales of improbable—and possibly illegal—adventures.  She just hoped she could remember it all—there was some great inspiration for characters in that room, and not just among the Avengers.

* * *

 

Lizzie and Stormy trailed the group as they moved from the common room, on their way to the Tower’s shooting range/training room, a two-floor extravaganza of weaponry and death traps (Barton’s words).  They were slightly more focused on not hyperventilating than they were on keeping up with everyone else, so they were the only ones in the room when there was a clatter of claws on the highly-polished tiles.  They turned to see a creature straight out of a Godzilla movie barreling toward them.

Lizzie liked to think she kept a level head in a crisis.  But the thing hurtling towards them was most definitely not of this earth, and she was a civilian.  She’d seen the footage of New York and London, and she was not about to become collateral damage in yet another Avengers/alien smackdown.  So she did what any sane person would—she shrieked and swarmed up the tallest thing in the room.

That happened to be Stormy, who was doing a beautiful impression of a Weeping Angel.

‘Balrog, get back here!  You know Thor hates it when you play fetch with Mew-Mew!’  A girl rounded the corner and skidded to a stop when she saw the creature sitting in front of their two-person totem pole.  ‘Oh, for the love of—Balrog!  Stop terrorizing the guests.  We talked about this.’  She walked to the monster—Balrog—and put a hand between its antlers.  Looking up at Lizzie, she said, ‘You can come down now.  I promise Balrog won’t eat you.  He was just excited to meet new people.’  Poking him with a toe, she added, ‘Drop the hammer.’  Balrog grumbled, and she poked him again.  ‘Drop it!’  He sighed and opened his mouth, letting the hammer— _Thor’s hammer,_ Lizzie realized in shock—drop with a clunk.  The girl nodded, satisfied, and grinned as Lizzie slowly descended.  ‘Awesome scarf, by the way.’

‘Thanks?’  Lizzie said cautiously.

The girl held out a hand.  ‘I’m Darcy, and this freak of nature is my bilgesnipe, Balrog.  I’m guessing you’re here for the Meet the Avengers contest?’

‘Yeah.  I’m Lizzie, and the Ent over there is Stormy—uh, Jonas.’

Stormy was slowly releasing from his quantum-locked state.  ‘I’m _not_ an Ent,’ he muttered.

Darcy raised an eyebrow.  ‘Stormy?’

‘Screen name.  Short for Stormageddon.  We’re friends online, but this is the first time we’ve met in person.’  Shooting a smug glance at Stormy, she added, ‘Told you I’d figure something else out.  Anyway, he illustrated a fic I wrote, and we just started talking back and forth after that.  We’re both huge fans of the Avengers.’

Darcy nodded.  ‘Groovy.’

Stormy sidled up to Lizzie.  ‘Was that the summoning rhyme for Tom Bombadil you were screeching in my ear?’ he asked casually.

Suddenly the ends of her scarf became extremely interesting.  ‘I recite poetry when I’m nervous,’ she told one of the purple stripes.  ‘I once got through all of the Host of the Air while waiting to give a presentation for class.’

‘Yeats.  Nice.’

‘Yeah… Wait a minute!’  She dropped her scarf in favour of staring at Darcy.  ‘You’re _Darcy Lewis_.  You’re one of the people to make first contact with Thor!  You helped repel the Dark Elf invasion!  You singled-handedly kept the Avengers from breaking up over the Accords scandal!  You’re amazing!’

Darcy blushed.  ‘Ah, yeah.  Superhero knuckleheads keep me busy.’  Balrog made a weird noise in the back of his throat that sounded suspiciously like chuckling.  Darcy smacked the back of his head.  ‘I’m still mad at you.’

Their guide poked his head into the room and cleared his throat.  ‘Miss Jones, Mr. Muir, I’m afraid that I must insist you keep up with the group.  You don’t have clearance to—Miss Lewis!  I didn’t realize you were here!’

‘No worries, Marcus.  Balrog was just making some new friends.  Hey, do you mind if we crash your party?’

‘Of course!  The contest was your idea in the first place.  We can catch up to everyone on the training floor.’

Darcy grinned.  ‘Ah, the Murder Room.  My favourite.  C’mon, guys!’  She grabbed the hammer and hoisted it over her shoulder before heading for the door.  Then she stopped, realizing everyone was staring at her.  Her eyes slowly tracked to Mjolnir.  ‘Oh, yeah.  Don’t tell Thor—we wouldn’t want to hurt his feelings, right?’

**Author's Note:**

> Eventually, Lizzie and Stormy collaborate on an illustrated fantasy series about a girl and her adopted hellbeast. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. The contest winners have a reunion every few years to catch up with each other.
> 
> Thor can't figure out why Mjolnir disappears only to turn up in odd locations, usually with a damp handle. Lizzie, Stormy, and Marcus have been sworn to secrecy.
> 
> All the contest winners are (somewhat obscure) references to some of my favourite movies and TV shows. Jammy Dodger if you can figure them out!
> 
> I wasn't sure what to do with this, since I got it before I started the Adventures of Darcy and Balrog. But since I started the series, and since I've actually started making OCs, I figured I could give it a home here. And now I really wish I'd come up with Lizzie's blog title when I first made my own blog. Oh, well.
> 
> As always, if you have a prompt, you can leave it in the comments below, or [shoot the breeze](https://taleasoldastime-andspace.tumblr.com/ask) on my tumblr. No smut, slash, or polyships, please and thanks.
> 
> Until next time, namarie, my little bilgesnipes!


End file.
